An Italian Astronaut has criticised the over-boiled pasta he was served for breakfast ahead of Wednesday's Soyuz space launch.

Paolo Nespoli,who was the first European citizen to visit the International Space Station in 1997, had jokingly complained about the dish of over-boiled pasta and chicken in one of a stream of messages sent to followers of his Twitter account in the days leading up to the launch.

"The problem is that, as Italians, we have a very strict way of eating, and that breakfast broke every single rule that we have," Mr Nespoli said at the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan.

The three-person crew is due to launch just after 7pm GMT, aboard the Russian-made Soyuz TMA-20 rocket, on a voyage to the International Space Station (ISS).